OK, I’m on your TV during NESN’s pregame show with TC and Fame (a new nickname for Jim Rice) and then frequently with the man with the perfect ‘do, Cole Wright, on SportsDesk. Now here I am on NESN.com. This leads me to the next natural step — when are you going to have me over for dinner?
As you know I think about baseball a lot. Each week, this blog will include a number of the items that are found floating in my stream of consciousness…
The intentional walk is a unique phenomenon. Did you know that through Sunday, the Red Sox lead the AL with 32 intentional free passes? Then again, Albert Pujols has 36 all by himself.
White Sox slugger Jim Thome has 561 homers. If he married The Wrestler co-star, she would be Marisa Tomei-Thome.
From the Bill Chuck Glossary of baseball terminology: This past week, the Sox lost a two-game set to the Tampa Bay Rays. A mini-sweep shall hence be referred to as “being dust-busted.” Then the Red Sox headed to New York where they were overwhelmed by great pizza, great deli and a great baseball team. In that never-ending four-game set, they were “Dysoned” as in they were more than swept — they were vacuumed, they were sucked up by a Dyson power vac.
Esteban German has been recalled by the Rangers from Oklahoma City. Linguistically speaking, I wish he were a teammate of the Mariners' Luke French.
Red Sox fans remember when he was referred to as “Joel Pinata,” but as Cardinal fans call him, Joel Pineiro has now won 10 games this season, the first time he has had double-digit wins since 2003, when he was with Seattle.
One more for the glossary: I have taken to saying that when a pitcher gets really creamed, that he got “Smoltzed.”
Curtis Granderson of the Tigers has his second-career 20-20 season with 22 homers and 20 steals so far this season, but he won’t get the 20-20-20 that he had in 2007 when he had 23 homers, 26 steals and 23 triples.
Last season, the Angels traded Casey Kotchman to the Braves for Mark Teixeira. You don’t think the Yanks would be open to the same deal, do you?
Big Papi, JayBay, and V-Mart work fine. Now we need a nickname for Dustin Pedroia. “Pedey” sounds too much like a bird, and “Dusty” sounds like a cowboy. Send me some suggestions to mailto:BChuck@NESN.com.
Speaking of names, the Man of 50 Steals has a full name that sounds like a law firm, as in “Jacoby, McCabe and Ellsbury, may I help you?”
Seven times since 2000, a Red Sox pitcher has had 200-plus strikeouts. Pedro Martinez did it four times (with a high of 284 in 2000). Hideo Nomo, Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka are the others. Through Sunday, Jon Lester has 165 and counting.
I was happy to see that Justin Masterson made a good first start for Cleveland. Limited to 60 pitches, Masterson went four innings, allowing one run on four hits, striking out four and walking one. Why can’t the Red Sox get pitchers like that?
Hey, everybody tells Theo Epstein where to get new Red Sox. Can you make some recommendations to me where I can get some new red socks to wear on the air? Write me at Bill@Billy-Ball.com.
